Coordinate Detecting Device and Operation Method Using a Touch Panel

Abstract

In a touch panel capable of detecting the coordinates of two pressed-down points individually at the same time, the coordinates detected while one point is pressed are stored and, if a second point is subsequently pressed, the stored coordinates of a first point are used to identify the coordinates closer to the stored coordinates as the first point and the coordinates of another detected point as the second point, thereby identifying an order in which the two points are pressed. Thereafter, what mouse operation has been executed at the coordinates of the first point is detected based on a positional relation between the coordinates of the first point and the coordinates of the second point, and a result of the detection is output to an application operable through a graphical user interface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP2007-273313 filed on Oct. 22, 2007, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a method of implementing functions of a pointing device such as a mouse, which is currently commonly used as an input device for operating a graphical user interface on a personal computer or other similar information technology equipment, with a touch panel capable of detecting the coordinates of two or more pressed-down points individually at the same time.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]A graphical user interface (hereinafter abbreviated as GUI) for performing various types of data processing of application software by selecting an icon or text that is displayed on a display has lately become popular for its user-friendly operation, and is widely em...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]To attain the above object, a coordinate detecting method according to the present invention uses a touch panel that detects the coordinates of a single point when only one point is pressed and, if a second point is subsequently pressed, detects the coordinates of the first and second points individually at the same time, or that detects and outputs the coordinates of the first point and data identifying whether or not a second point has been pressed. This touch panel is capable of processing in which, when only one point is pressed, a displayed pointer is moved to point at detected coordinates and, when a second point is subsequently pressed, an icon at the coordinates of the first point is selected. An operation similar to drag & drop in a mouse is thus accomplished.

Problems solved by technology

Thus, a touch panel that is not capable of detecting the coordinates of two or more pressed-down points at the same time cannot fully reproduce the functions of a mouse, since it does not cover other functions than detecting a single click and detecting a double click from a time difference between pressing the touch panel once and pressing it the next time, namely, functions that utilize multiple mouse buttons.

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